Trinsic:Chaos Reigns/Chapter 11

From Dead Pigeons Society

Chapter 11:

We rejoin our heroes as they nurse splitting headaches (save for two), and gather around the Incontinental blechfast table. Gabe has just asked Amara about this storm outside. Her response? "You'll have to see it for yourself. It's just over the hotel, not across the street."

Loralove bounces over with her own plate of goodies and drink. "Storm? There's a storm? Ooh, I like storms, they're neat."

Alsiur: "Storms are fine as long as they stay quiet..." Alsiur mumbles.

*KABOOOOOM*!

The thunder shakes the building.

Alsiur cringes and covers his ears and mouth.

Loralove: "Oooh, that was a good one."

Gabriel: "Bleargh." Still hung over (and not exactly a morning person to begin with), Gabe steps outside to take a look at this "strange" storm.

Reingold comes in the front door, struggling against a sudden squall of wind and a sneeze of raindrops that literally push him through the door, which he thereafter slams.

Loralove: "Good morning, Reingold!"

"Morning, Loralove!" He waves in her direction, but heads to the front desk to consult with the manager on duty.

Marissa finishes her prayers and joins the rest of the group. "So, what now?"

Loralove: "Not sure. Everybody's lookin' at the storm." Loralove chows down on pastries cheerfully.

Marissa: "It's... a storm. What did you expect?"

Alsiur: "Less thunder."

Marissa: "Too bad"

After a little bit, Reingold comes over to Loralove. "Congratulations. You're now at the center of the only disturbance this morning... your little black raincloud."

Marissa: "Okay, so what's the plan?"

Loralove: "Really? Huh. Well, it's a cute little black raincloud..."

Another flash of light, another building-shaking roar.

Loralove: "...cute big black raincloud."

Gabriel bursts back in through the door. "Big, angry black raincloud."

Loralove: "Maybe we should go make it feel better?"

Gabriel: He dusts himself off. "Watch your step out there; I almost got fried."

"Yeah. They sent me over to check on the building. I guess they figured out I'm kinda hard to kill." He rolls his eyes. "Anyway, I'm heading out... manager says nobody's injured inside, and the lightning strikes seem to be mostly hitting around the building, not the building itself."

Alsiur: "Lemme get a look at this storm..." Alsiur goes to look at the storm.

Another flash of light, another building-shaking roar.

Alsiur continues his habit of cringing from the horrific noise.

Alsiur: "Maybe we should go somewhere else."

Reingold shakes his head again, then leans over close to Loralove and whispers quietly.

Reingold says, "You be careful, okay?"

Marissa: "Good idea, Alsiur."

Loralove smiles and whispers back, "You too."

Reingold nods, smiles and heads back out the door, wings lowered to struggle out against the wind.

Gabriel raises an eyebrow at the small person secrecy.

Loralove: "Do we have anything that might calm down the storm?"

Gabriel: "Not unless shooting bolts of dark energy at stormclouds will make them less angry."

Loralove: "We need a weather wizard."

Marissa: "Why don't we just leave?"

Loralove: "I don't think we can without the storm getting mad at us."

Marissa: "So what?"

Loralove: "I'm not sure I wanna get hit by an angry storm."

Gabriel: "I'm sure."

Marissa: "Well, sitting here... we're just ducks. And we're sitting."

A passing duck waddles past. "QUACK!"

Loralove: "Well, the building should keep us from getting zapped, provided it doesn't catch on fire..."

Marissa: "See what I mean? I feel like we need that insurance..."

Gabriel: "Buzz off, you." Gabe sticks his tongue out at the duck.

"Well, don't blame me if you can't get a break!" The duck puts his wings on his hips and waddles off, head held dismissively high.

Marissa: "Wait, Mister Duck... Mister Duck!"

Marissa goes running after the talking duck.

The duck pauses and looks back.

Marissa: "Do you know anything about this?" Marissa asks, gesturing up at the storm.

Gabriel heads back toward the front door. "Hang on, folks, I'm going to see if I can do something about this after all."

"Nah. I was turned into a duck weeks ago."

Gabriel blinks at the duck.

Marissa: "Do you know who turned you into a duck? Or where you were when it happened?"

"Oh, sure. I was downtown, buying some garlic bulbs for a spell I was working on, when all of a sudden, I got hit by some kinda variant of the baleful polymorph spell. I've been a duck since."

Marissa: "Did you see who hit you with it?"

"Well, no... it wasn't until after that people warned me to duck."

Marissa: "I see..."

Gabriel rolls his eyes.

Loralove giggles.

"Anything else? I'm still trying to learn how to cast spells without hands. You can't just wing it, you know."

Gabriel: "Urg." Gabe raises an eyebrow. "Any chance you'd care for me to try and un-duck you, and maybe put an end to these horrible puns?"

"I'm down with that, if you've got something that might be effective."

Gabriel: "Gah! Anything to stop the bad jokes!" Gabe draws a darkly-glowing sigil in the air, then points it at the duck.

A fwoosh of magical energy streams toward the duck, who steps back, surprised, wing coming up to hide his face.

Swirling colors surround the avian, then slowly and steadily the duck grows, shedding feathers and rising until he is standing before you. A human being with a thankfully long beard that stretches to his knees. "Oh, OH! Oh, thank you!"

Gabriel turns away. "Sheesh. You can thank us by asking the manager for a bathrobe."

Speaking of...

The manager looks up. "THERE you are! You owe me 572 gold, Mr. Samuels, for the room you abandoned, the cleanup costs, and the explosion of one of your concoctions that took out wall!" He comes running out from behind the counter. The man says, "Whoops, gotta run!" And he hoofs it outside, the manager hot on his heels.

Marissa sighs and starts running after the pair.

Gabriel sighs. "Marissa, wait!"

Marissa: "Wait for WHAT? We might not get another chance!"

Gabriel: "Chance at what? He's a naked old coot who doesn't seem to have any connection to any of this. What do you want from him?"

Marissa stops and sighs. "He was at the garlic stand. Right near the center of town. A lot of stuff seems to be happening there, no?"

Alsiur: "Let's go check it out, then. It'll be better than standing under a mini storm."

Gabriel: "But he just said he didn't see what happened!" He sighs again. "Fine, whatever..."

Marissa: "Do you have a better plan?"

Gabriel steps up to the front door. "Well, first of all..." Stepping out within sight of the cloud, he draws out the dispel sigil again, this time aiming for the storm overhead.

Marissa backs up, recognizing the sign. "Ah"

Gabriel: The spell fizzles. "Hmm. Take 2..." *zap*

Marissa: "Try it as many times as you need to, if you think it'll help. Since you can evidently do it as often as you want."

Marissa: "Since I already have no chance of catching up to that man, I have nothing better to do."

Gabriel grumbles. "Stupid raincloud." Charging up an aura of dark energy, he starts firing dispel bolts wildly into the cloud overhead, one after another.

Loralove ooooohs at the light show.

After five additional attempts, Gabe finally manages to dispel part of the overhead storm, and the rest begins to dissipate as well, although more because the center was pulled out of it than anything else.

Gabriel: "Bah. That was more effort than it should have been." He rubs his hands, which are sore from the effort. "Ow."

Just for show, as though flipping you the proverbial finger, the last piece of cloud drops a lightning bolt into the middle of the street that actually leaves a pothole.

Gabriel: "Gah!" Gabe jumps back.

Loralove: "Wow."

Gabriel stares nervously at the sky. "...so, uh...now what?"

Marissa: "We do... what we had planned."

Gabriel is still a bit foggy from waking up. "...and that was?"

As Gabe stares upward, a big, fat raindrop hits him square in the face.

Gabriel: "GAH!" Gabe snorts, coughing and wiping his face. "Bleh!"

Alsiur: "Let's go check out the area near the garlic stand."

Marissa: "Sounds good to me."

Loralove: "Okay!"

Marissa starts heading to the garlic stand.

Gabriel wipes his eyes clean just in time to realize he's being left behind. "Hey, wait for me!"

Alsiur continues following the group against his better judgment.

Loralove follows.

Loralove might catch a brief glimpse of someone she'd swear was peeking over a rooftop at them, but when she looked at it proper, there wasn't anything there.

Your rooftop's on the left.

Loralove: "Huh. I thought I saw upon the stair a little man that wasn't there..."

Marissa: "I thought I saw someone peeking over the rooftop."

Loralove: "Me too. I think."

Gabriel glances up from where he's been checking his hair in his pocket mirror. "Huh? What's that?"

Alsiur stops staring into space for a moment. "Saw who?"

Marissa: "Never mind."

An orc lurches from around the corner, wild-eyed, hair scraggly, wielding a large staff, and generally looking like orcs usually do. "EEE-VIL! EE-VIL!" He waves his stick. "THUD WARN YOU, BEWARN!"

Gabriel blinks. "...uh."

Alsiur: "Is this the one?"

A man dressed all in black stares at the group from across the way, leaning against a wall and digging at dirt under his fingernails with a long dagger, piercing gray eyes not straying at all.

Marissa notices the man. "Hmmm..."

The orc swings his staff around again, and continues down the street, proclaiming loudly, "BEWARN! EEEEE-VIL!"

Marissa: "See that guy?" Marissa mutters to the rest of the Party. "I think we should talk to him."

Loralove giggles a little at the orc.

Marissa approaches the dagger-carrying man a little warily.

Gabriel follows behind, trying his best to look tough and no-nonsense.

As Marissa approaches, he twirls the dagger into the air, the spinning, shimmering blade catches the light and reflecting it into Marissa's eyes for a moment before he catches it in the opposite hand, then begins picking at the dirt under those fingernails.

Marissa: "Can we talk to you?"

Alsiur: "I used to clean out my nails with a dagger...until I found it was a Flaming dagger, that is."

He keeps digging at his fingernails, eyes now staring into Marissa's. After an uncomfortably long silence, he finally says, "Talk."

Marissa: "You were staring at us. Any reason why?"

"Free province."

Marissa: "That is a slogan, not an answer."

He continues staring into Marissa's eyes, silent.

Loralove bounces over and smiles at the fellow. "I guess he just thinks we're fun to watch," she says chipperly.

Gabriel quietly focuses on his medallion, trying to read the man's mind.

Alsiur: "What are we, a sitcom?"

Another fingernail gets the dirt removed from under it. He stares on.

Alsiur stares back.

He moves from cleaning under his nails to trimming his nails in long strokes across the finger. He doesn't have to saw at the nail at all to cut it.

Alsiur refuses to blink.

The man refuses to blink, either.

Gabriel looks back and forth between the man and Alsiur, waiting to see who will win.

Alsiur stares eternally onward.

Marissa: "So, please answer my question with a real answer."

"No."

Loralove: "Aw, how come?"

Marissa: "Yeah, how come?"

The man matches Alsiur's stare second for second.

Alsiur employs the "gaze vaguely menacingly" maneuver.

Marissa: "Ahem"

"Just 'cause you don't like the answer doesn't mean I'm gonna make another."

Gabriel: "Don't interrupt them; this is getting epic."

Marissa hisses at Gabe and Lora, "Either of you get anywhere reading him?"

Gabriel whispers. "No." He then turns back to Alsiur. "Go, man, go!"

Alsiur continues glaring...until a bug flies into his eye.

Marissa: "Lora? You want to try?"

Loralove: "Huh? Oh. Hadn't thought of that..."

Alsiur: "Grah..." Alsiur rubs his eye while keeping the other eye open. Until the bug's friend flies into that one, too.

Alsiur: "Best two out of three?"

Marissa: "Oh please no."

The man turns his attention from Alsiur back to Marissa, a slight smile tugging at his lips. "I can hear just fine, by the way."

Marissa: "I know you can. I was hoping to add incentive to talk."

Marissa: "So, talk, or we'll find out anyways. Why you staring?"

He just stares at Marissa again.

Marissa: "Alright, let's start smaller. What's your name?"

Marissa: "Mine's Marissa. Marissa Maranis."

The man shoves off from the wall, then turns to leave. "Name's Hind."

Marissa: "I gave you a first name. I expect one too."

"Good luck." He starts to walk off.

Loralove: "Hey, now!" Loralove bounces after and stands in front of him.

"...Kid, you really don't want to get in my way on purpose. On accident's not a big deal. On purpose..."

Marissa: "What could I do to persuade you to actually talk to me? And actually tell me things that help me?"

Loralove: "I'm not a kid, mister. And we need you to talk to us. Don't worry, we won't hurt you."

"Look, I'm here for one purpose only... I've heard Metuo's back, and I want to see with my own eyes whether it's true. Apparently, you lot are the ones most likely to see it first hand, so I'm watching you. Satisfied?"

Loralove looks over at Marissa.

Marissa: "That actually helps a lot. Why are we so likely to see it first hand, though?"

"Ask the rumor mill. Goodbye."

Gabriel: "Because we're the ones investigating?"

Marissa: "Anything you can tell us about Metuo? We do believe he IS back, and that he's behind all this."

"Nope."

Marissa: "You obviously know something. You're a Hind. Come on, it can't hurt."

"Nope."

Marissa: "Anything I can do to change your mind?"

"Nope."

Marissa: "Well, you're a sourpuss, aren't you?"

Loralove: "So what happens if it is true that Metuo's back?"

He pauses for a long moment, staring down at Loralove.

Loralove looks back with open curiosity.

"What happens, kid, is that my life and the lives of my wife, kids, parents, will all be forfeit."

Loralove looks shocked. "Is there any way we can help?"

"Nope."

Marissa: "So, if he is back, wouldn't you want to help us stop him?"

"Nope. That'd just make him mad."

Marissa: "Well, if your family's lives are forfeit anyways, as you say... you have nothing to lose. And if we're successful... everything to gain."

"Nope. 'Scuse me." He steps around Loralove and continues on his way.

Marissa: "Is there something wrong with my logic?"

Gabriel: "Some people just aren't sociable, Marissa."

Gabriel: "Especially criminal types."

Marissa sighs, frowns, and sits down on the ground, now completely disappointed in her abilities.

Marissa: "Just... go on. Maybe I'll find you all later, but for now... evidently, all I can do is screw up. Just... keep doing whatever..."

Marissa starts walking off into the sunset.

Marissa: "Don't come after me. If I become useful again, and this is still happening... I'll find you."

Gabriel sighs.